1. ADMINISTRATIVE CORE (CORE A) 1.a. OBJECTIVE The overall objective of the Administrative Core is to facilitate the mission of the MRDDRC. Thus, the goals of the Administrative Core are to ensure that 1) the research in this Center is focused on problems of relevance and importance to mental retardation and developmental disabilities, 2) the research is organized around clearly-defined themes, 3) the research is of the highest scientific merit, 4) there is facilitation of multidisciplinary research and research training, 5) translation of basic research findings to clinical application is a high priority, and 6) there is fostering of "centerness", that leads to synergistic interactions between MRDDRC investigators. We believe that the activities outlined throughout this grant (see Progress Report, Core Descriptions, and Research Projects Proposed for Core Usage) demonstrate that we are achieving these goals, and it is our intention to continue to strive to build upon our previous successes during the next funding period. We propose an organizational structure that will provide scientific/programmatic leadership and crucial day-today administrative/managerial support to MRDDRC investigators. We discuss below these two features of the Administrative Core under "Services Provided" (Section 1.5).